ISLAMABAD: Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) chairman Amjad Zubair Tiwana has submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, sources said on Wednesday.
According to insiders, Tiwana asked the Prime Minister’s Secretariat to remove him as FBR chief and sent his resignation two days after waiting.
The FBR chairman also consulted more than two cabinet members before resigning from his post, sources said, adding that the members asked Tiwana to resign.
Sources said Tiwana met Federal Economy Minister and close aide of the Prime Minister in the Establishment Division Ahad Cheema and verbally informed him that she could not continue to head the FBR, according to The News.
Sources said senior officers of the tax collection body did not cooperate with Tiwana. They added that there are more than 21 officers in the FBR who are senior to the chairman.
Tiwana, who is believed to be close to Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, was appointed during the interim government, sources said.
The FBR chairman — who is an Inland Revenue Service (IRS) officer in grade 21 — was set to retire from the service in February 2025.
Top official sources close to the Prime Minister’s office confirmed to The News that the pace of reforms, including digitization, in the FBR was not desirable.
FBR officials said the revenue officials tried their best to convince Tiwan that he had not forwarded his request for exemption from charges to the government, but he refused.
Sources close to the FBR chairman said the tax machinery clocked a revenue of Rs 9,311 billion in the last fiscal year by posting a 30% growth in sales despite a difficult economic environment. Tiwana has had to face criticism over digitization and the split between the IRS and customs groups.
